I would not worry about that. Instead buy gun that makes this irrelevant. S&W makes excellent J-frame .357 with tritium combat sights, stainless steel frame, barrel and cylinder, combat rubber grips. ***The cylinder is cut for moon clips.*** You can shoot any .38 Special, .38 Special +P or .357 in that gun w/o concerns about heavy bullets coming out during recoil. This gun does not have any shortcomings usually associated with this type of firearm. The weight is around 20 oz with is not cumbersome, problem solved.
Not a "shortcoming" per se; but, .357 mag in a J-frame is rather asinine.
No. For example, S&W made magnum J-frame Model 60 with combat grips and 5" barrel. Very useful wilderness camping trail .357 gun. Not easy to find, because many were too stupid to see the value of that compact, handy gun. With 2" barrel the only advantage might be easier to move if one chooses to sell the gun.
The gun I mentioned previously has tritium combat sights and cylinder cut for moon clips which are major bonus. The short barrel does not help .357, but original post mentioned .38 Special target-type load. This particular gun can handle standard range 158gr lead round nose bullets which sell for < wadcutter type loads. The added weight of gun means that these standard range or cowboy bullets will not travel out of case under recoil.